Bot Pipeline Coordination

Pass work between registered bots using the inbox/outbox handoff pattern.

Available Bots

Workflow

1. Receive Task

• Check orchestrator's inbox for new tasks: ~/.openclaw/workspace-orchestrator/inbox/
• Read task from instructions.md in inbox

2. Route to Specialist

For each bot, the path pattern is:

~/.openclaw/workspace-<bot>/inbox/instructions.md
~/.openclaw/workspace-<bot>/outbox/results.md
~/.openclaw/workspace-<bot>/status.json

To delegate to a bot:

1. Write task to <bot>/inbox/instructions.md
2. Update <bot>/status.json with {"state": "pending", "task": "description"}
3. Notify the bot via sessions_send or let it check on next turn

3. Monitor Progress

Check status.json for each bot:

• pending - Task assigned, not started
• running - Bot is working
• completed - Results ready in outbox/
• failed - Error occurred

4. Collect Results

When bot status = completed:

1. Read results from <bot>/outbox/results.md
2. Clear the outbox after reading
3. Update status to {"state": "ready"}

5. Consolidate

Combine results from all bots into final deliverable.

Example: Product Launch Task

# 1. Read incoming task
task = read("~/.openclaw/workspace-orchestrator/inboxinstructions.md")

# 2. Delegate to researcher
write("~/.openclaw/workspace-researcher/inbox/instructions.md", """
Research brief: [product name]
- Competitor analysis
- Target audience insights
- Keyword research
Deliver to outbox/results.md
""")
write("~/.openclaw/workspace-researcher/status.json", '{"state": "pending", "task": "research"}')

# 3. Delegate to contentwriter (after researcher completes)
# ... wait for researcher status = completed

# 4. Collect and consolidate
research_results = read("~/.openclaw/workspace-researcher/outbox/results.md")

File Paths (for reference)

ORCHESTRATOR_INBOX = "~/.openclaw/workspace-orchestrator/inbox"
ORCHESTRATOR_OUTBOX = "~/.openclaw/workspace-orchestrator/outbox"

BOT_BASE = "~/.openclaw/workspace-{bot}"
BOT_INBOX = f"{BOT_BASE}/inbox/instructions.md"
BOT_OUTBOX = f"{BOT_BASE}/outbox/results.md"
BOT_STATUS = f"{BOT_BASE}/status.json"

Key Principles

1. Always write instructions first - Don't assume bot knows context
2. Check status before reading outbox - Don't race condition
3. Clear outbox after reading - Prevent duplicate processing
4. Handle failures gracefully - Log errors, try alternatives
5. Consolidate explicitly - Don't leave gaps between handoffs